Over the years a lot of puppies have gone through the kennel and for the most part they have gone through the same program that produced Grand National Grouse Champions Wild Apple Jack and Autumn Moon. Sometimes they are puppies we’ve whelped like the litter that produced Jack and Moon and sometimes they are puppies that other people have whelped with dogs from the line. Two summers ago we had two puppies Sam (Sam escaped from her kennel the other day so she could point a pigeon that escaped from the coop and has been hanging out in the yard as you can see above) and Birdie that were from a litter that Jack sired and three puppies from two different Moon litters. Last summer we had the three Bud Bros plus Dottie who was by Autumn Snow (a son of Whiz) and Trip (a Guard Rail daughter) as well as Molly who is by Elhew G Force. The puppy program is described in detail in a five part series of articles in Pointing Dog Journal that started in the November/December 2014 issue and will finish up this summer. Basically, the premise is that most of today’s well bred bird dogs have the genetic programing to be excellent bird dogs and our job as trainers is to give them the experiences they need to fully develop their potential. As well as teaching them to handle well when they’re young so they will be hunting with us their entire lives.
This coming summer there will be two new campers. They are from Nelson’s Van Max X Wild Apple Faith (a full younger sister to Jack) and came north with me after arriving in Kentucky a couple of days before I headed out last Wednesday. They seem to be settling in well, although Jack isn’t really that thrilled with sharing his crate with them. They were born February 10th and I expect we’ll be killing birds for them this fall. I’ve already ordered quail to get them started and have a reservation for a bunch of homers to re-establish the pigeon coop. As they progress you’ll be able to follow them here along with all the older dogs in the program this summer.
My granddaughter wished the puppies were staying in Kentucky but she’ll be up here for a long visit this summer.
The puppies think Jack’s crate is the best spot for a nap even when Jack is already in there.